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23 thoughts on “Question It!”

Hi Natasha,
Aren’t there up to date running statistics that report on this ?

If we were designing the control system for the process we would collect running data and see how the actuals compate to the targets that we want. – after all, the policy for these issues must be quantified somewhere somehow

Having read the article the subtext is nothing more than a revamp of Edmund Leaches infamous “tawdry curtain” jibe and is as about as inaccurate and irrelevant as Leach has been proven to be in 1967.
The reason why the media and po9licitins are giving ‘residential care’ a hard time might – I suggest – be because it fails to work; it fails to deliver the expected results; and is actually the engine of juvenile delinquency and bad conduct because it fails to control it charges inside or outside the care facility.

‘Community Care’, please bear in mind, claims to be the nation’s leading authority on ‘care’ issues yet nonetheless it turned down an article a decade ago on child homicides (based on government stats) as being ‘too unbelievable’.
Had they accepted the article the follow-up one would have dealt with where those homicides took place most often – and guess where that would have pointed, no, not to ‘the family’ but to the ‘non-family’ unit.

BTW to answer the first comment (running data), yes, there is planty of data – it’s just that people prefer to look past it.

Hi Tom, I may be able to assist. I keep a large stock of data files. All are either governmental, or credible by a). size or b).researcher undertaking study.
So to avoid burying you in “not quite what was wanted” info, please specify and I wil see if i have any.

BTW. There is always a tendency to put these questions into separate boxes adn then wonder why policies fail. So it is well to remember that when Theresa May announced the Inquiry into child abuse early last month she did make clear that it would look into institutional abuse.
She announced that she was establishing an independent inquiry panel of experts in the law and child protection to consider whether public bodies – and other, non-state
institutions – have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse.
So it will be interesting to see what they ‘officially’ find.

To paraphrase a well known tennis player, “She cannot be serious!”. Already new research has found that 2 – 3 times more abuse happens to kids in residential care than in foster care! This is what is admitted to but I suspect it’s just the tip of the iceberg. In psychological circles there is a known phenomena that people lie! Truly! A good example of this was the social worker who lied about a father abusing his child. She admitted afterwards that it was the fault of the police!

Social workers that deliberately keep children away from their families for no good reason are guilty of child abuse, the same way some parents keep their children away from the other parent. Both are abusive to the child. Whats the difference? The parent would be penalised but social workers fall back on ” Its in the child’s best interests! They are never penalised nor held accountable for the anguish caused to the child!

When are there going to be penalties when social workers abuse their position and in doing so abuse the children and the families? You know the NSPCC ad about the child who doesn’t cry anymore because he knows his cries won’t be answered, well the same can be said about a child asking for his parents or other family members, he asks, gets fobbed off and eventually. accepts they won’t be coming! No one polices what social workers do so they get away with flouting the laws!

Thank you, D, this is interesting. Obviously I have my own views on this, but I’m running around like a crazy person at the moment, so my thoughts will be brief. I really think the whole thing depends most of all on the people involved. We spend too much time blaming systems and not enough time ensuring the right people work in it.

I agree with Dana’s sentiments. Only this week a Gloucestershire couple was jailed for abusing (by neglect, malnourished, infested with head lice and living in insanitary conditions) their children. “Only by accident did the children get rescued”. But if that was bad you should have heard the explanations why nothing had been done for so many years.
Let me quote:- “Teachers, doctors, health professionals and social workers were all aware of the family, but no formal action was taken . . .” (http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Gloucestershire-parents-horrific-case-child/story-21243765-detail/story.html ). The result of these ‘professional’ social worker’s incompetence is that the 5 children have now been split up and permanently adopted never to see one another again.
To follow-up on Natajsha’s good point, its easy to forget, because of their bunglings, that these SS officers have actually been trained at colleges for 3 years. One feels these lecturers need to be grabbed by the neck and frog-marched into some of these stinking dwelling where insaniarty conditions exist and asked to explain to the public how effective they think their teaching has proven to be.

If social workers took time to get to know the family then they would not make the mistakes they do. Regardless of what they have been taught they should also get first hand knowledge by interacting with the family before plans are drawn. They seem to have a tick box mentality and unable to see beyond that! I also see that whilst blame is apportioned to social workers for serious failures that result in a child’s death, that is counter productive as more kids are taken into care, not because they are really at risk but just in case! They don’t want to take the risk when a child is known to them because it will end their career if something happens. Its no longer about the child but about them!

I agree with Dana to a large extent. However, I see their failure to get involved and allowing themsleves to be fobbed off time and again by devious parents as utterly culpable. If they did intervene at the beginning then the snatching of children would actually be reduced, not increased.
The realisation at the early stages that their children could (and would) end up in foster care or be adopted would serve as a much needed jolt to some of these parents and prof them into remedial action. Pussy-footing around helps no one in the long run.

Tom, may I suggest you look at gov.uk for UK stats on looked after children in residential and foster care. The latest research is about the abuse of kids in foster care but also give the stats for abuse in residential settings.

There is a wealth of info on the NCCPR website about US kids in care. In the US there are more residential settings and because the scale is much greater, despite being separate states, it clear that kids do not benefit from residential care. According to the research kids don’t benefit from foster care either but whilst some US states are taking note, the UK dismisses anything that may actually be on benefit to the kids!

To be clear, the largest ever research carried out involving thousands of kids about foster care vs home is to be found on the NCCPR website. It was definitive. It stated that kids were better off at home! Not in foster care! Not in a residential home! Their own home was ultimately best!

I agree with Dana to a large extent. However, I see their failure to get involved and allowing themsleves to be fobbed off time and again by devious parents as utterly culpable. If they did intervene at the beginning then the snatching of children would actually be reduced not increased.
The realisation at the early stages that their children could (and would) end up in foster care or be adopted would serve as a much needed jolt to some of these parents and would prod them into remedial action. Pussy-footing around helps no one in the long run.

RW your last comment says it all! Can I add one thought? The general public believe the social services is there to help them as a family. Thats a fallacy! They are there to help the child. Well at least that is what they say they do but I believe in the majority of cases they do more harm than good! The portion “rescued” certainly do not justify the thousands of kids being taken into care on the off chance something may happen! Its time social workers were up front and truthful instead of hiding behind the myth that they care! If they genuinely cared about the kids they wouldn’t be taking so many into care. The rise to 92,000 kids in care, half of that figure since 2007 baby P, shows the failure of the social services! The failure to work with families! Its no longer a rescue net but an industry that steals children and makes money! When those kids leave the care system what happens? The prisons, streets and brothels are full of kids from care and even with the current stats that show this trend, they still persist. They dont learn from their mistakes despite telling us “lessons are learnt!”